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Hierophant Class Heavy Cruiser
"It is said, that when the Heirophant of Gruul asked for a superweapon to destroy his enemies, he was told it could not be done. When he asked for a dreadnought, he was told that he did not have the budget. So he asked for a heavy cruiser, and told his men that it must be the best cruiser that could possibly exist, one that would crush his enemies and lead his fleets to victory. When he was brought back the design for the Heirophant class, he asked why his men claimed that they could not bring him a superweapon." The last ship that the Hierophant of Gruul put into production before he was deposed was the Hierophant-class. He wanted a flagship, a ship that could crush any other heavy cruiser in the Terminus in single combat, that could combat the vessels of professional militaries and C-Space. He wanted a superweapon, a dreadnought, something that would cow fleets on its own. To put it simply, he got it. The Hierophant was a resounding success, and it led the destruction of the First Vonskar Coalition and the Burning of Alradey, resulting in the Hierophant being the most feared warlord in the Nemean Abyss for the ten years before he was deposed. Even though the Hierophant is gone (and, according to many, dead), the Hierophant-class lives on. The ship's design leaked once the Theocracy dissolved, and the Hierophant was quickly established as the most fearsome mass produced ship in the Terminus Systems. Terror of the Terminus It's a Hierophant, all ships retreat! - Goronak Nab'Rokol at the Battle of Morast. At seven hundred and fifteen meters long, with a pair of six hundred seventy meter mass accelerators, broadside guns the size of a corvette, a state of the art Command and Control center, and the ability to fight on-par with - or even defeat - equivalent-mass Turian Hierarchy vessels, the Hierophant is truly a sight to behold. The Hierophant is a state of the art, absurdly powerful death machine that runs on prodigious amounts of Eezo. It can carry six shuttles, a corvette, a small army, and a small array of vehicles in addition to its crew. It features enormous heatsinks that give it truly staggering operational endurance, an enormous arsenal of spinal and broadside mass accelerators, a state of the art GARDIAN system, war room and dedicated combat bridge, and the best kinetic barriers and armor that its owner can afford. Newer models even go into battle with the growingly popular Thanix cannons, giving them truly horrifying firepower. It has been said that there is only one thing that the Hierophant can't do; namely, be subtle. Drawbacks The main problems with the Hierophant are cost, fuelling and parts. The Hierophant of Gruul set up shop in the Nemean Abyss, and the design of the Hierophant line reflects the massive eezo deposits in the region. The eezo dependence results in the Hierophant being expensive to field, and though it is amazingly powerful, many who would otherwise be able to afford the ship simply can't keep the eezo-guzzling juggernaught fuelled. A significant empire, or at least holdings or contacts in the Abyss are necessary to keep a Hierophant supplied with the eezo it needs to function. In addition, though the Hierophant is almost ludicrously durable, its parts are high quality and expensive, and when it does, inevitably, take damage, replacement parts can be both expensive and an utter pain to procure, often requiring shipyards dedicated to making high-end ships to cough up the parts necessary to repair a Hierophant, further necessitating a working infrastructure to simply keep the ships going. Service Each of the mercenary Big Three (Blue Suns, Blood Pack and Eclipse) owns at least one Hierophant, albeit on rotating service to keep the cost of supplying the beasts with Eezo down, and several smaller pirate fleets that operate out of the Abyss have a Hierophant that they have built their fleet around, with a small civilization dedicated to keeping the monster alive. A few larger PMCs, like the Light of Purgation, have also been spotted with Hierophants, though they're an incredible drain on the corporation in question to keep functioning, and tend to have functions removed to make them more economical. Despite problems with assembling and fuelling a Hierophant, it is easily recognizable, and widely lauded as the Tyrant King of Terminus Warfare. Variants The Thresher-class vessel, constructed with help from Corel Heavy Industries for the new Tuchankan Defence Force, is an upgrade of the Hierophant. Notes This ship was designed to be, essentially, the Imperial Star Destroyer of the Terminus Systems - the feared symbol of military might that should make characters do messy things in their underwear. If one of these shows up in an adventure, you're in trouble. Category:Technology Category:Ships and Vehicles